This invention relates to a magnetic recording/reproducing apparatus capable of recording and reproducing audio signals on a plurality of channels and a video signal, and more particularly to an audio signal recording/reproducing apparatus capable of recording and reproducing a plurality of audio signals of a high-definition television system in an easy manner of manipulation.
The rotating-head helical-scan system video tape recorder (abbreviated VTR) as a home magnetic recording/reproducing apparatus using a magnetic tape has so far been based on the NTSC system as a standard television system. However, recently the high-quality high-definition (also called Hi-Vision) television system or HDTV (High Definition TV) has been developed and is being studied for practical use. This HDTV system is described in the Journal of the Institute of Television Engineers of Japan, Vol. 44, No. 7 (1990), pp. 858-860, Chapter 6.1, "HDTV"and the HD-VTR is reported in the Journal of the Institute of Television Engineers of Japan, Vol. 44, No. 7 (1990), pp. 840-842, Chapter 4.2, "MAGNETIC RECORDING TECHNOLOGY", and Vol. 42, No. 4 (1988), pp. 338-346, Chapter 5.1, "DIGITAL VTR" (relating to digital recording VTRS including an HD-VTR).
On the other hand, for the audio signals of the high definition or Hi-Vision television system, a method (called the 3-1 system) using 4 channels (left channel L, right channel R, center channel C and back channel S) has been developed to increase the realism as described in the Journal of the Institute of Television Engineers of Japan, Vol. 44, No. 3 (1990), pp. 228-233. These audio signals of the Hi-Vision broadcast are also transmitted by the MUSE transmission system (multiple sub-Nyquist sampling encoding system). Therefore, the high-definition VTR is desired to have the capability of recording and reproducing at least 4 channel audio signals.
In the conventional audio recording and reproducing technique, for example, in the digital recording high definition VTR, 8 channels for digital audio signals are provided along the lengthwise direction of the magnetic tape. In the NTSC composite digital VTR (D2 system VTR) which is not the high definition VTR, 4 channels for digital audio signals are provided in the scanning direction of the rotating heads on areas other than the video tracks.
In other words, the conventional VTR including the NTSC and HDTV systems directly records input audio signals of 4 to 8 channels on the magnetic tape.